A FOURTH goal crafted on the Bodymoor Heath practice pitches was the final, most painful, nail in the coffin as Aston Villa’s unbeaten Premier League start tumbled against table-topping Manchester City.

A FOURTH goal crafted on the Bodymoor Heath practice pitches was the final, most painful, nail in the coffin as Aston Villa’s unbeaten Premier League start tumbled against table-topping Manchester City.

When Villa old boy Gareth Barry teed up fellow former claret and blue colleague James Milner for City’s exquisite last goal it was well and truly game over for Alex McLeish’s underdogs at the Etihad.

It was a scoreline which, by the final whistle, did not flatter Roberto Mancini’s men as they emphatically moved above city rivals and next weekend’s opponents Manchester United to the Premier League summit.

But despite the gulf in footballing class and financial clout, City’s 11th victory from their last 12 home games against Villa owed as much to dreadful defending from the visitors.

Mario Balotelli, the scourge of the claret and blues, Adam Johnson and Vincent Kompany were effectively gifted goals before Milner completed the rout with a fantastic fourth.

Stephen Warnock did score a consolation goal at 3-0 down, City’s first top-flight concession at the Etihad this season, but it signalled momentary respite rather than a Villa revival.

Big Eck made two changes from the win over Wigan, one tactical, one enforced.

Ciaran Clark replaced James Collins, who is now suffering a groin injury, while Emile Heskey came in for jaded Barry Bannan in the hope of matching up against City’s physical strength.

Villa competed well in the opening stages and might have made life harder for the new league- eaders had fit-again Gabby Agbonlahor converted their best chance of the match on 13 minutes.

Agbonlahor, given the all-clear after seeing a specialist about the back problem which ruled him out of England duty, bullied Joleon Lescott into a mistake in City’s left-back area.

But after the Brummie striker advanced into the box, his sidefoot shot was saved by keeper Joe Hart with Warnock’s half-volleyed follow-up deflected over by a defender.

Villa were to rue the one-that-got-away when ball-watching gave City a helping hand they scarcely needed for the opening goal on 28 minutes.

Never mind Carlos Tevez’s tantrum and Sergio Aguero’s injury. If only Balotelli had been unavailable for some reason, instead of getting the ball rolling with his fifth goal in three home wins against Villa after a hat-trick in last season’s league romp and penalty in the FA Cup calamity.

Adam Johnson’s right-wing corner was inadvertently flicked on at the near post by Darren Bent and, with the defence slow to react, Micah Richards killed the ball and Balotelli contorted his body to fire in an acrobatic overhead kick from near the six-yard line.

To Villa’s credit they largely took the sting out of City’s play until the half-time break – only to undermine their temporary recovery of composure moments after the re-start.

Manchester City away is not a fixture Warnock looks forward to. His nightmare performance in last season’s 4-0 defeat in late December was his last first-team contribution of that campaign. He wanted the ground to swallow him up again on 47 minutes when his mistake led to a second goal, which opened the floodgates for Mancini’s City slickers.

When Yaya Toure hit a hopeful long ball forward, Warnock’s avoidable slip opened up a clear route to goal for Johnson, who steered a simple finish into the bottom left corner.

It got worse for Villa on 52 minutes when last season’s set-piece susceptibility came back to haunt them again with Kompany left completely unmarked to head in another right-wing Johnson corner at the near post.

Warnock tried to make amends for his part in the second goal when he smashed in a shot off the underside of the bar to make it 3-1 on 65 minutes after the hosts failed to clear Agbonlahor’s ball from the right.

However, it was Villa’s only forward foray of note during the second half, and City’s fourth on 71 minutes came as no surprise to the hardy away contingent.

When Barry picked out Milner on the edge of the box, there was nothing Shay Given could do to stop his curling strike flying into the top left corner.